December 17, 2013

To recap, I had said the following eight players would get a checkmark on my ballot:

Jeff Bagwell

Edgar Martinez

Fred McGriff

Tim Raines

Curt Schilling

Lee Smith

Frank Thomas

Larry Walker

This leaves two open spots. Players who I hadn't reviewed in these previous posts include Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Luis Gonzalez, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, Mike Piazza, Alan Trammell and others who in a less crowded ballot might get some serious consideration.

I'm going to have to get some liquid paper and erase some of the checkmarks off of my in progress ballot. My ballot will need room for Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Craig Biggio. Lee Smith and Fred McGriff will need to come out. I feel awful that I don't have room for Alan Trammell.

My final ballot:

Jeff Bagwell

Craig Biggio

Barry Bonds

Tom Glavine

Greg Maddux

Edgar Martinez

Tim Raines

Curt Schilling

Frank Thomas

Larry Walker

For some more reading, you can take a look at The Hall of Nearly Great to read some great stories about several players that are not in Cooperstown. This book has a compilation of some excellent writers talking about players who have not been elected, including some Red Sox favorites such as Luis Tiant, Dwight Evans and Ellis Burks.

December 13, 2013

In my last post, I previewed all the former Red Sox on this year’s ballot. Today I take a look at the Canadians and other players of
interest to Canada:

CANADIAN PLAYERS

Eric Gagne – As already discussed in the Red Sox post,
no. Just no. NO

Larry Walker–
Starting his career in Montreal, he is a favorite of many Canadians. He ended his career with a .313 batting
average, an even .400 OBP and 383 home runs, for an OPS+ of 141. A lot of
people discredit him for his offensive output in Colorado, but keep in mind
that the “+” in OPS+ is adjusted for ballpark effects. And besides, in his MVP 1997 season where he
hit .366 with 49 home runs, he only hit 20 out of Coors Field. Some park effect(!).

December 10, 2013

There is a large list of solid Hall of Fame candidates on this
year's ballot. Several sportswriters are struggling with the maximum of
10 votes per ballot. Even if you want to exclude the known cheaters from consideration there are several names who will be left
off ballots who are much more worthy than some recent questionable inductees.
Among these are several former Red Sox players as well as Canadians or
players with a strong Canadian connection.

This post will include my thoughts on the Red Sox on this year's ballot
(alphabetically). My next post will look at the Canadians and the players who played in Canada, and finally I will have a wrap up post with my full ballot.

RED SOX players

Sean Casey -
If there was a Hall of Fame for nice guys the Mayor would be an easy 1st year
inductee. He was voted thefriendliest player in baseball and I never heard anyone say a bad
word about him. And although his time with the Red Sox was brief, with
him just being a backup 1st baseman for a season, he was a 3 time all-star with
some power who finished his career with a .300 batting average. He's also made
the Irish Hall of Fame and the Reds' one which includes all time greats such as
Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver and Frank Robinson. His friendliness may garner
him a few thank you votes from the BBWAA, but he will drop off the ballot this
year. NO

Roger Clemens - if you just look at the stats, this is a no-brainer. But the
Hall of Fame criteria also includes integrity, sportsmanship and character. And
I'm not quite totally sure how to handle the whole PED thing yet. But not
even considering that issue, in my opinion, Roger Clemens never exhibited much integrity, sportsmanship or character on or off the field. He's not
getting my vote. NO